Monday, August 3, 2009

Major oil players Chevron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. announced that they will raise oil prices effective Tuesday. At 6 a.m., Chevron and Petron will raise the prices of their regular and E10 gasoline and diesel by P1 per liter and kerosene by P0.50 per liter, said Chevron communications manager Toby Nebrida and Petron spokesperson Virginia Ruivivar.

Shell will also implement the same price adjustments at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday to "reflect the increase in international product prices," said Shell vice president for communications Roberto Kanapi.

Just last week, major oil players also increased oil prices by P2 per liter.

Former President Corazon Aquino drew tens of thousands to the streets one last time on Monday, amid an outpouring of support reminiscent of the 1986 revolt that she led to restore democracy in the country.

Police estimated the crowd in Makati at 25,000, while those that lined up along Edsa were estimated at 5,000, said Superintendent Rommel Miranda, spokesman of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

In the area of the La Salle Greenhills gymnasium, where the funeral procession started, the crowd was estimated at 30,000 to 40,000, said Senior Superintendent Carlos de Sagun, Mandaluyong City police chief.

Mrs. Aquino's younger brother, Jose Cojuangco Jr., led his clan from Tarlac in joining the funeral procession to the Manila Cathedral. Cojuangco, overwhelmed by the thousands who lined up Ayala Ave., flashed the "laban" sign to the crowd and reached out to shake the hands of some of the people there, saying thank you.

Employees of the Commission on Elections unfurled yellow banners and a large white tarpaulin written with the words "Salamat Pres. Cory." (Thank you, Pres. Cory)

Among those who were at the Manila Cathedral were Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, former Ambassadors Henrietta de Villa and Howard Dee, Black and White Movement convenor Leah Navarro, and political analyst Lito Banayo.

So far, only Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. was the only administration figure spotted at the cathedral.

Former President Corazon Aquino was hailed as a "role model" for the country's leaders during a mass on the first night of her wake at the Manila Cathedral on Monday. "Cory is known as icon of democravy but also for her simplicity and being prayerful. She is role model for all of you in public office," Cubao Bishop Honesto Ontioco said in his homily. Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales led the mass even as Ontioco gave the homily.

The memories of the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and the special bond he had with former president Corazon Aquino were very much on the minds of the Catholic priests who were waiting for the coffin of Aquino at the Manila Cathedral on Monday.

While saying it is her "official duty" to pay her last respects to former President Corazon Aquino, militant party list lawmakers on Monday warned President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be ready to take jeers, snide remarks and spiteful looks from the public.

From what they understood, they were only being transferred units, not being pulled out of their duty to secure a former president - but the son of the one they were securing said it was otherwise.

Senior Police Officer 4 Crispin Corpuz and Inspector Melchor Mamaril said an order was given for them to report to Camp Crame home to Philippine National Police (PNP) national headquarters two weeks ago, when Cory was still confined at the Makati Medical Center.

Mamaril and Corpuz, who had been the close-in security of Mrs. Aquino since 1986, said that from what they understood from the order, they were only being told to report to Crame to be transferred units. They said they understood they were not being pulled out of service as Cory's security detail.

However, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, son of the former president, said they received a letter from the PNP telling them that their mother's escorts would have to report back to Camp Crame.

Members of the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives have proposed a "Cory Aquino Day" for the former President whom they hailed as a "great leader and heroine." 18 LP members proposed the declaration of "Cory Aquino Day" every January 25, the late President's birthday.

Self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison said he remembered the "mutual sense of gratitude" between him and former President Corazon Aquino. He recalled the day he met Aquino in her office at the penthouse of the Cojuangco building in Makati City. He thanked her for signing the release order for political prisoners and she also thanked Sison for supporting her. Sison claimed then defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile and military vice chief Fidel Ramos tried, but failed to block his release.

Former President Corazon Aquino was not just a commander-in-chief to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but was also a mother figure to low-ranking officers and enlisted personnel.

"Tita Cory was more like a mother to us than a typical Commander-in-Chief," said Army Colonel Santiago Baluyot, chief of Task Force Zamboanga.

Baluyot was assigned as one of Mrs. Aquino's close-in security from April 1986 until her term ended in 1992.

"She assumed power as an ordinary person, stepped down after her term and still identified with ordinary people, and up to her death, she remained with the ordinary people. Sana may isa pang katulad niya [Hopefully, there will be another one like her]," he added.

The Senate ratified on Monday afternoon the bicameral conference report reconciling provisions of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), which would extend for another five years the land-acquisition and distribution program with a budget of P150 billion.

They were activists, students, political prisoners, journalists, professors, and what-have-you when Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was thrust into power in 1986, but each has been touched by the revered leader one way or the other.

Halting moves to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly that could perpetuate the sitting President in power would be the "best honor" the House of Representatives could give former President Corazon Aquino, a lawmaker said on Monday.

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta and Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda will arrive here Tuesday to personally deliver their governments' letter of condolences to the Aquino family and the Philippine government.

The outpouring of condolences and support for former President Cory Aquino continues to flood the Internet, a venue for those who cannot join thousands who gathered in the streets to pay respect and mourn her passing.

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Monday said he is bracing himself for "hard times ahead" now that he has lost his mother, former President Corazon Aquino. The senator said their kitchen, which used to be a cheerful place, has been enveloped with gloom since his mother's death last Saturday due to cardiorespiratory arrest. He said the kitchen was one of his mother's most favorite places in their house.

The Judicial and Bar Council on Monday denied Malacañang's request for the council to expand its list of nominees to the two vacancies in the Supreme Court. Senator Francis Escudero, who represents the Senate at the JBC in his capacity as chairman of the committee on justice, said the voting to reject the Palace request was unanimous. "The JBC already did its job. It would set a bad precedent," Escudero said.

Malacañang warned of a "constitutional crisis" if the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) would insist on its original list of nominees for two vacant positions in the Supreme Court. Cabinet Secretary Silvetre Bello III said on Monday the problem would crop up if the JBC would no longer submit a shortlist as required by the Constitution and insist on the original shortlist it submitted to fill up the vacancies left by retired Justices Dante Tinga and Alicia Austria-Martinez.

In the past, Bello noted that the JBC usually submitted five names for every vacancy, as was not the case now when the body came up only with six names for the two vacancies.

Malacañang will submit a report card on the gains it has made in rooting out corruption in government to the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), a US government agency that gives aid to poor countries to encourage good behavior.

A civil society peace network has cautioned government against rushing the peace process with the Moro and communist rebels as the Arroyo administration enters its last 11 months in office.

Cesar Villanueva, president of Pax Christi Pilipinas and co-convener of WPP, said the best that government could do would be to focus on what could be done, and "not give concessions that it cannot deliver."

He explained that substantive issues facing the talks with both the communist and Moro rebels "necessarily have implications on the Constitution, policy framework of national governance, and socio-economic structure" that would have to be "dealt with in short, medium, and long-term phases."

A soldier and his companion were arrested after allegedly staging a highway robbery in Agusan del Sur province Saturday midnight, a police official said on Monday. First Lieutenant Roel Bontuyan Hengania of the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, and his companion Maximo Ucab were arrested by police after allegedly robbing a truck of more than P200,000 worth of earnings, said Chief Superintendent Jaime Milla, police regional office 13 director.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a petition for certiorari and a temporary restraining order before the Supreme Court in a bid to stop the Makati Regional Court's order to transfer failed pre-need firm Legacy Consolidated Plans, Inc.'s trust fund to a receiver.

A Continental Airlines jet carrying 179 people from Brazil to Texas hit severe turbulence over the Atlantic early Monday, injuring at least 26 - including four seriously - and forcing an emergency landing in Miami, officials said.